Our Work

July 29 2020

Creating access to high quality and value-based education for low-income & tribal children

bansuri_studiouser Our Work

Aseema

A COMMON VISION

Making high quality & value-based education accessible to children of all backgrounds, with a holistic approach to child development.

WHat THEY DO

Aseema runs three schools in Mumbai in partnership with the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai and one school for tribal children in Igatpuri, in rural Maharashtra.

Aseema set up Bal Shaikshanik Kendra in Igatpuri with a view to providing education for tribal children from the neighbouring areas. The school boasts facilities like a library, indoor & outdoor sports premises, a multipurpose hall, a dining hall and medical room.

They provide healthy meals that are made at the school kitchen to tackle the issue of malnutrition amongst their students. Vocational training and counselling are available to the students on campus. Aseema also set up a Community Work Cell to engage with the children’s families, to understand the challenges faced by them, to encourage them to keep the children in school, to involve parents in their progress, and to deal with health and medical requirements.

Dance and drama

Classical music

Arithmetic in practice

Experimenting with science

CORNERSTONES

Aseema’s education program and teaching methods are influenced by the Montessori approach to help the children learn independently and experientially on the principles of curiosity, awareness/observation, exploration & action. The pre-primary class, Jal, enrolls children aged 2.5 to 6 years so that young children are not measured against narrow age-specific developmental markers.

They look at child development from all sides – education, nutrition, health & well-being, future livelihoods and their communities – thereby giving their students a strong foundation from which they can achieve a better quality of life.

Developing with your body

Harnessing your senses

Understanding concepts, instead of mugging

Learning with colour

Using the mind and body in unison

Being organised and methodical

A balanced and nutritious diet

Happiness is the key ingredient

Independent & self-reliant from an early age

ADDING VALUE

Bansuri has supported their pre-primary program, Jal and we have also funded their Community Work Cell in the past. In that time, a health and nutrition assessment survey found that issues arising from traditional smoke chulas were instrumental in keeping the children from school. Bansuri was able to step in immediately and sponsor replacement smokeless chulas.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Aseema has worked closely with the communities to increase enrolments and to retain these first-generation learners. They have achieved an average attendance of 72% over a five year period.

Over these five years, about 210 tribal children were educated at Jal, with 35-45 new enrolments of students each year.

HIGHLIGHTS

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Aseema’s campus in Igatpuri is one of a kind in rural Maharashtra. This state-of-the-art facility was started in 2014.

iTEACH SCHOOLS

Filling the gap for secondary education through a well-rounded curriculum

Insight Walk

Using the untapped potential of women to become change makers in their communities

July 22 2020

Using the untapped potential of women to become change makers in their communities

bansuri_studiouser Our Work

Insight Walk

A COMMON VISION

Working in extremely marginalised and disadvantaged communities, to empower women and children through learning opportunities, which can help them break the cycle of poverty.

WHat THEY DO

Insight Walk works in villages that have no direct access to basic facilities, where parents work very long hours and where average household incomes are lower than INR 5,000 – 6,000 per month.

The Innovation and Passion Lab: A community centre that offers programs for children to learn through practical application and to develop ways to express themselves. The curriculum includes exposure to subjects like farming, basic electronics, stitching, crafts and product design and also involves bringing artists and musicians from the communities to share their skills.

The Insight Walk Fellowship: A program that engages local women to be inspired into agents of change, thereby strengthening the community ecosystem. Typically, a fellow is someone who couldn’t complete her education for reasons beyond her control. Insight Walk trains the fellows on the Door Step School curriculum, which focuses on basic literacy, practical experiments and hobby development. The fellows also receive weekly mentorship to address their challenges at the lab as well as at home.

Local women of the Insight Walk Fellowship

The Innovation and Passion Lab

Science: Windmill

Science: Geometry

Science: Magnets

Science: Pulley system

Basic electronics

Product design

The science of farming

Farming experiments

Agricultural equipment

Agricultural structures

Learning craft

Reusing materials

Lettering

Artwork

Learning to stitch

Making stuffed toys

CORNERSTONES

The curriculum is focused on hands-on learning, innovation, scientific curiosity and engaging the child’s immediate surroundings. Parents and families are frequently engaged at the lab so that they feel invested in their child’s progress.

Through the program, both the children and the fellows develop communication skills, interpersonal skills and self-awareness. They are encouraged to address local problems pertaining to their communities and to use materials readily available to them for their solutions.

Students conserve both financial and environmental resources by creating non-breakable & reusable diyas for Diwali using natural materials.

Students gain hands-on experience with organic farming, and create sustainable solutions by working as a collective.

ADDING VALUE

Bansuri incubated Insight Walk with seed funding to test their unique model and provided mentorship on areas like organisation structure, leadership and financial systems.

Bansuri funding and support has helped scale the program from the pilot project of 3 villages in 2018 to 9 villages by 2020.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

About 270 children & 12 fellows have been part of the Insight Walk program across 9 villages in the district of Kolhapur, Maharashtra over a 2 year period.
Children have shown improvement in reading, their ability to grasp new concepts and sensitivity towards the environment. The products they have created through the lab reveal an impact on their creative thinking and problem solving skill.

Women who have been part of the fellowship program have show a marked increase in confidence, developed a sense of ownership and now take initiative to solve problems that arise in the course of program implementation. These women have been involved in training new fellows successfully. The fellows have also received support and encouragement from their husbands and families.

HIGHLIGHTS

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The children made eco-friendly rakhis and Ganapati idols, where even the dyes were made from vegetables and flowers. These were then sold, and the money collected was gifted to the Gram Panchayat towards flood relief.

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While the children are learning to organically farm the patch of land near their school, they have begun to develop practical solutions to problems of farming – such as an electronic grass cutter and farm umbrellas to ease their farming efforts.

Aseema

Creating access to high quality and value-based education for low-income & tribal children

The Pi Jam Foundation

Reimagining the possibilities of the ICT program and using technology to learn life skills

July 16 2020

Reimagining the possibilities of the ICT program and using technology to learn life skills

bansuri_studiouser Our Work

The Pi Jam Foundation

A COMMON VISION

Creating equal access to modern technology for all children and to inspire active members of society & change makers through a hands-on program.

WHat THEY DO

Pi Jam offers quality computer skills that promote a problem-solving mindset and design oriented thought, with a model that is built on three pillars –

Pi Labs: A comprehensive and cost-effective solution for setting up new computer labs or reviving existing ones in schools.

Community Centre: A free, open-to-all lab where children learn by working on projects.

Pi Jam Curriculum and Teacher Training: Focused on curriculum design that is pedagogically sound and up-to-date in partnership with field specialists; along with training and post-training mentorship in subject matter and computer pedagogy.

Pi Labs are a dedicated period in schools

Kids look forward to working in the labs

Learning theory and concepts of technology

Interactive learning makes technology easier to grasp

Design thinking and problem solving

Time for exploration

Collaborating on projects

Build your project from scratch

Grade-specific Pi Lab curriculum is provided to teachers

Teacher training sessions at Bansuri’s office

CORNERSTONES

Pi Jam uses low cost, open source technology to implement their curriculum, thereby enabling scalability. The hardware used is the Raspberry Pi mini computer. They have designed & developed a thorough curriculum under the guidance of

specialists from top institutes in India, with a view to give experiential, hands-on learning. The program is language-agnostic, and has successfully been taught in English, Hindi, Marathi, and Telugu.

Raspberry Pi (mini computer)

Transcending language barriers

Fun is encoded into the programs

ADDING VALUE

Bansuri has supported Pi Jam at an early stage in their journey, by mentoring the team to tackle the challenges of a young organisation and guiding them as they refine their operating model.

Funding was provided for 1 Pi Lab at a low income private school in Pune, Pi Jam operations for 2 years and to set up a lab at Bansuri’s community centre in Yerwada, Pune.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Close to 500 students at Epiphany School, Pune have undergone the Pi Jam program over 2 years, 150 of whom have done 2 levels of the curriculum. Two of Epiphany’s ICT teachers have been trained by Pi Jam and continue to attend training & mentoring sessions to address their challenges and to improve their knowledge.

At the Yerwada Community Centre, 53 children have been regular participants at the Pi Lab over the last year.

HIGHLIGHTS

A student at the Pi Jam Community Centre created a prototype of an e-walking stick for the blind, which can alert the user about water, pot-holes & obstructions while walking.

The Weather Station program developed by Pi Jam, helps children grasp geography related concepts and collect real time weather data which can be shared with the IMD.

Sonic Pi is a unique program conducted in Pi Labs where children learn algorithms by creating music.

The Makers’ Factory is an annual event where children from various Pi Labs across schools come together to showcase their creations, exchange learnings and play games.

Insight Walk

Using the untapped potential of women to become change makers in their communities

CYDA

Developing a positive attitude towards health, hygiene and humanity at a young age

July 10 2020

Developing a positive attitude towards health, hygiene and humanity at a young age

bansuri_studiouser Our Work

Centre for Youth Development & Activities (CYDA)

A COMMON VISION

Creating an enabling environment for youth to become responsible and independent adults, with a focus on promoting human rights, democratic values, accountability and transparency and the courage to speak up.

WHat THEY DO

CYDA’s Health4Change program is implemented at various schools for senior students with a view to achieving a Healthy Attitude, Healthy Mind and Healthy Behaviour.

TARANG: Educating senior students on reproductive health and gender.

WASH: Creating awareness and training modules around water, hygiene and sanitation within schools, and educating children and staff to maintain the facility where toilets were set up or renovated.

Counselling: Providing individual support to senior students in academic, social and emotional needs.

CYDA guides teachers on how to create an enabling environment

TARANG empowers adolescents with the right knowledge & skills

The program employs engaging & interactive methods of learning

A safe space for students to express their concerns & doubts

CORNERSTONES

The CYDA teams that work in the schools are from similar backgrounds to the students. CYDA operates on the principle that the educators themselves should be role models for the promoted behaviours. The team is first given the same knowledge that students would receive and only once they adopt the principles are they trained to impart these learnings.

CYDA’s focus is on fundamental areas, like access to water & sanitation, the right to information and support in dealing with the challenges of adolescence. They see a tremendous impact on education and livelihoods once these needs are addressed. They also work extensively on driving policy change.

Life skills education along with better health & sanitation facilities

Awareness about cleanliness and personal hygiene

ADDING VALUE

CYDA has been supported by Bansuri Foundation since October 2014 in 6 schools across Pune, starting with the TARANG program. Bansuri helped identify the need for a counselling program to support the TARANG project and this was introduced in the second year of our involvement. Further training was provided to teachers and school leadership, where the importance of counselling and methods of implementation were taught, thus making them self-reliant going forward.

Since Bansuri also supports Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, in the third year we decided to focus on renovating toilet blocks that were in a poor condition and providing filtered drinking water at schools where CYDA had intervened for the WASH program.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

100 students from 6 schools between grades 8 to 10 have been part of CYDA’s Health4Change program with Bansuri. About 66 students have taken individual counselling and 64 participated in group counselling sessions. It was found that students who participated in the program were able to manage their emotions better and be more assertive in conversations.

The teachers observed a change in the confidence level of the students and found them to be less hesitant to speak up in class. There was an improvement in their academic focus as their ability to deal with their problems increased. In addition to students overcoming substance addictions, the frequency of physical fights and use of abusive language reduced as students learnt to deal with anxiety, stress and phobias.

HIGHLIGHTS

A principal from one of the schools says his students have learnt about AIDS, trafficking, gender sensitivity; and are now comfortable speaking about otherwise sensitive topics.

The Pi Jam Foundation

Reimagining the possibilities of the ICT program and using technology to learn life skills

United Way Mumbai (UWM)

Plugging into the system to enhance future learning outcomes & reduce drop-outs

July 16 2020

Plugging into the system to enhance future learning outcomes & reduce drop-outs

bansuri_studiouser Our Work

United Way Mumbai (UWM)

A COMMON VISION

Creating a foundation for education that will improve the child’s success in the school system and reduce dropouts, through a model of adopting existing, underutilised resources in the government education system.

WHat THEY DO

UWM’s education program, Project Ankur, plugs into the Maharashtra government’s existing pre-primary education centres where activities are aligned to their Aakar syllabus, which focuses on early childhood education to enhance learning outcomes.

UWM monitors the performance at these centres, while providing community support that engages families to ensure that children are supported to stay in school.

Shikrapur Gaothan, Pune

Talegaon, Pune

Khedkar Vasti, Pune

Sondekar Mala, Pune

CORNERSTONES

UWM employs facilitators and trains them extensively in the Aakar syllabus, so that they can then train and closely monitor the Anganwadi teachers to implement the program effectively.

At the four Anganwadis that Bansuri supports, there has been strong community engagement which has led to new enrolments and better attendance.

Facilitator discussions

Sessions with students

Renovated spaces

Free-play

Physical activity

Sessions with parents

ADDING VALUE

Bansuri has supported the functioning of four Anganwadi Centres in Pune over the last year starting with renovations at all the centres to make them safe, child-friendly and conducive to learning.

Bansuri works closely with UWM to assess impact parameters, monitor performance, overcome challenges and make improvements in the program.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

An average of 14% increase in enrolment since the refurbishments, with students switching over from privately run, English medium pre-primary schools.

An improved retention rate is noted with the daily attendance being 65% to 70%, across the 4 Anganwadi centres

HIGHLIGHTS

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Palak Shala (Parent’s School) is an innovative activity where parents gather in the centre to create educational material for children. They have conducted 22 Palak Shalas for the 4 Anganwadi Centres from August ‘19 to February ’20.

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Celebrated Balak-Palak Melawa (Annual Children-Parents gathering) at Indraprasth Garden, Shikrapur Pune. A total of 300+ children and parents from 4 Anganwadi centres participated in the event where children showcased their singing and dancing talents.

CYDA

Developing a positive attitude towards health, hygiene and humanity at a young age

iTEACH SCHOOLS

Filling the gap for secondary education through a well-rounded curriculum

July 27 2020

Filling the gap for secondary education through a well-rounded curriculum

bansuri_studiouser Our Work

iTeach Schools

A COMMON VISION

Filling the gaps in the current education system so that children have an equal opportunity to complete their schooling and receive a quality education — one that focuses on exposure, problem solving, creative thinking, building confidence and nurturing responsible citizens.

WHat THEY DO

iTeach set up its first school in 2015 in Pune, through a public-private partnership with the Pune Municipal Corporation to offer free secondary level education. They currently operate 8 schools in Pune city.

iTeach’s Goals

Equip students with the academic skills they need to complete a college degree.
Develop their character, decision making abilities and life skills.
Actively engage parents in the child’s educational and overall development.

Academics - Secondary level and college readiness

Life skills - Communication, collaboration, problem solving

Exposure - Beyond school and academics

Graduation - Commemorating their achievements and hard work

CORNERSTONES

Over the three years of Bansuri support, iTeach has introduced various programs and activities to promote holistic child development.

Reading: With a focus to inculcate a love for reading, iTeach introduced ‘choice reading’ in academic programs. They partnered with Joy for Reading, an international NGO which shares the same goal. This program helped to improve fluency, comprehension and eventually the average child was reading 1-2 novels a month.

Blended Learning: A program that uses online digital media alongside traditional classroom methods to teach English and Maths.

Sport: In collaboration with Cool Coach they were able to provide crossfit training to all students. They also worked with Just for Kicks, to set up an under-16 boys football team.

Culture: Through the Apprentice Project, students were taught singing, dancing, public speaking, art & craft, coding and drama; while 50 students signed up with Baithak Foundation to learn Indian classical music.

Personal & Professional Development: School of Life conducted advisory sessions with students to help them deal with personal issues, which in turn helped improve attendance and reduced the need for corrective conversations. Additionally, the NGO Antarang worked with grade 10 students to address career related topics.

Creative expression

Using digital media

Cultural exposure

Public speaking

Model UN

Alumni meets

ADDING VALUE

Bansuri supported iTeach for 3 years from 2015-2018 at their BJR school and actively engaged in initiatives that would provide cultural exposure. Bansuri encouraged the integration of art into the school curriculum and brought in Baithak Foundation to introduce students to Indian classical music. Industrial visits were organised at Alicon Castalloy Ltd facilities in Pune where students were introduced to manufacturing concepts like Kaizen, quality control systems, accuracy, R&D and problem solving.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Over 400 children were educated through BJR from 2015-2018 and all the students who were enrolled at the school in the first 2 years completed their grade 10 Board exams successfully.
Parental engagement being a key focus, the average attendance at parent teacher meetings was 75% to 85%.

A significant improvement in English, math and reading abilities was found, following iTeach’s focus on bringing students up to their grade levels in those areas.
89% of the former BJR students passed their grade 11 exams, at their respective colleges.